SBI3013: Information and Communication Technology in Biology

GROUP B
SEMESTER 1 SESSION 2016/2017

Title: Smart School

Prepared By:

No. Name Matrix No.

1 Siti Fatimah Binti Mohd Zamri D20162075553
2 Mildred Paula Anak Sagat D20162075572
3 Ojie Folorennah Fin Majlis D20162075568

Lecturers Name:
Azmi Bin Ibrahim

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CONTENTS

No. Contents Page

1. 1.0 Introduction 3
2. 2.0 What is Smart School? 4-5
3. 3.0 Objective of Smart School 5-6
4. 4.0 Issue and Challenges 6-10

4.1 Lack of Technologies Infrastructure and Teaching

Materials of School in Rural Area

4.2 Mindset of Teachers and Students

4.3 Inadequate Financial Resources

4.4 Continuous Monitoring and Coaching Requirement

4.5 Alignment of Smart School Objectives in Ministries and

Between Its Agencies

4.6 Under-utilized of Smart School Software Courseware

and Hardware

4.7 ICT and Digital Divide

5. Conclusion 11
6. Reference 12

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1.0 Introduction

The challenges of the new millennium such as the rapid globalization, the tremendous
impacts of information technology, the international transformation towards knowledge-
driven economy, the strong demands for societal developments, and the international and
regional competitions have driven numerous educational changes in the different parts of the
world including Malaysia. The IT-based learning project in the national educational system is
one of the flagships of the Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC) establishment which was
officially inaugurated by the former 4th Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad on 12th February
1996. The MSC Malaysia is Malaysias national ICT initiative designed to attract world-class
technology companies while grooming the local ICT industry. Fully supported by the
Malaysian Government, MSC Malaysia has led the nations transformation towards a K-
Economy over the past decade and a half. MSC Malaysia is the gateway to the ICT industry
in Malaysia and the region.

The Malaysian Smart School Flagship was premised on the strong belief that
information and communication technology is a key enabler to imparting the learning desire
all. The impact of technology on education and future generations is undoubtedly enormous.
Therefore, the Smart School is established whereby the learning system had been reinvention
in terms of teaching-learning practices and school management in order to achieve the Vision
of 2020. The philosophy of the Malaysian Smart School says includes all students can learn if
taught, coupled with high expectations for all students, a broad curriculum that considers the
different capabilities and needs of all students, a school surrounding with conducive for
learning progress, an on-going assessment that supports good instruction, strong professionals
principals and teachers and a high level of parents and community support.

Last but not least, transforming educational system in order to establish Smart School
ultimately changes the culture and practices in school system. Teaching and learning from
memory based learning to an education that stimulate thinking and creativity , considering the
range of abilities and learning styles of students to ensure that all the students have the
opportunity to build self-concept.

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2.0 What is Smart School?

The Government of Malaysia want to capitalise on the presence of leading-edge

technologies and to develop the Malaysia Multimedia Corridor Projects infrastructure to
enable the school to experience the technology. So, the Smart School is one of the seven
flagship application that are part of Malaysia Multimedia Corridor Project (MSC).Smart
School is a learning institution that has been reinvented systemically in term of teaching-
learning practices and school management in order to prepare children for the Information
Age .

In addition, we can see the development or progress of the programme through the 88
pilot smart school by 1999 that will set as the main for the nation wider smart school
teaching and material, skill plus technologies .The smart school concept has begun with the
launched of pilot project to seek for the proof of concept before the next phase are
implemented by the government .Phases in Smart school are in 4 waves as below:

WAVE YEAR DESCRIPTION

1 1999-2002 Pilot Phase

88 school nationwide
selected as smart
school

2 2002-2005 Post Pilot

Massive
computerization phase
to all 10,000 school

3 2005-2010 Making all schools

smart
leveraging all ICT
initiatives

4 2010-2020 Consolidate and

stabilize
Innovative practice
using ICT
enculturated

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In the Pilot, the Smart School Integrated Solution (SSIS) was rolled out to 88 schools in the
country at the cost of about USD78 million (RM300 million). The Smart School project is
implemented by the Ministry of Education (MoE), Malaysia. The Moes industry partner is
Telekom Smart School (TSS), that was awarded the contract to develop the project in
collaboration with the MoE and the Multimedia Development Corporation (MDeC).

Smart School have a specific characteristic, student-centred teaching and learning,

catering to different learning style and student exhibit higher order thinking skill. The
teachers and administrator are also skilful in using ICT in daily task for teaching and
administrative. Creative and innovative teacher using ICT as enabler and accelerator for
better teaching and learning and a smart school will also have smart partnership with various
agencies. Smart School student also have they own characteristic just like the school itself
,smart school nurture a new generation of thinker who are equipped with the relevant
knowledge and skill to innovate and complete in an increasingly complex world .

3.0 Objective of Smart School

The existence of Smart School come with a very clear objective such as, to produce a
thinking and technology literate workforce for the Information Age .Every job nowadays
want a skilled worker especially in the technology field .Smart school can educate and
prepare student for the future undertaking, because in Smart School student will learn how to
think out of the box.

Smart School also can increase participation of stake holder whereby the stake
holder can communicate with the school faster and easy because of the technology.
Stakeholder also can have opportunities to participate in school program through technology.

In addition , Smart School focusing to democratize education .Smart School will

provide equal access to learning opportunities and everyone can experience the technology
.The technology become our centre in learning such as reading ,writing ,calculating and
thinking ,whereby with the help of technologies our work can be done much more easier .

Next, Smart School want to develop student physically, mentally, emotionally and
spiritually in which school will provide a broad curriculum, teaching values and languages
across the curriculum and emphasise thinking skill for all the student .One more important

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aspect that school want is to provide opportunities to improve individual strengths and
abilities. Through this student can find more abilities and can improve it to use in the process
of learning.

Last but not least, in order to produce a knowledgeable society that is critical,
creative and innovative, the smart school must play the role to make it happen. Thus, school
must train the student to have higher quality profile.

4.0 Issues & Challenges of Smart School

Smart School that is one of the Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC) flagships to produce
highly skilled and knowledgeable human capital in terms of ICT as for a long term plan that
functions as a paradigm shift in the national education system absolutely encounters many
obstacles and challenges. Therefore, there are a few challenges enlisted such as below:

4.1 Lack of Technologies Infrastructure and Teaching Materials of School in

Rural Area

Smart school is the reinvention of educational system in school that uses a technology
platform as a medium on which distance learning and specific teaching expertise are
made available to remote locations including the home, without compromise to the
quality of information transfer and certified teaching methods developed locally,
regionally and internationally. However, problems occur when some schools in rural
areas are not sufficiently equipped with ICT infrastructures. In fact, the development
of ICT infrastructure fundamentally depends on availability of resources. In rural
areas, the power resources are deficient as to support the internet connection by that
time and also for supporting up-to-date hardware and software in school due to
inadequate financial budget from the capital and also due to its geographical factor.
Compare to urban school, they are more advance and have sufficient ICT facilities.
Thus, this situation gives big impact to teachers and students in rural areas to achieve
the objectives of smart school which is to explore the world of technologies.

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4.2 Mindset of Teachers and Students

The radical changes in the teaching - learning methodology and component give those
natural insecurities and fear mostly to the teachers because most of them have blended
to the conservative teaching method and educational management system, thus
difficult to adapt the new instructional technology. In addition, teachers are mostly
lack of knowledge and skills in using the ICT tools and software. Therefore, has
limited the uses of ICT tools in teaching and learning process. As for students, some
keen to learn the new technologies including computers, digital and e-learning but
some of them are not taking it seriously because they prefer different field of interest
and also have perspective that learning IT is difficult due to their lack of abilities and
slow progress in that field , hence reduce their favour in that subject. Therefore, there
needs to be a very careful of intensive training and counselling to assist teachers to
adapt to the whole new environment because they will be an instrument for students
in creating conditions that will promote self-directed learning which is creative and
not fully depend to teachers in preparation for the Information Age era.

4.3 Inadequate Financial Resources

In installing multimedia infrastructure aspect, Smart School invariably require heavy

investment on it. The hardware would include computers and peripherals, video and
voice conferencing equipment and the backbone telecommunication infrastructure.
The software will comprise word processors, spreadsheets, networking software and
etc. Apart from that, Smart School will require the creation and interlinked national
and local databases and resources centre to ensure it works properly.

Therefore, effective implementation of Smart School will require funding for

the building of the new schools with all its multimedia structure, upgrading facilities
in existing schools, deployment of well-trained IT coordinators, teacher training
courses and also for the maintenance of the new technology introduced. Hence, the
most disadvantages will goes to student in rural areas schools in developing computer
literacy whereby the insufficient budget will mostly spent on developing urban

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schools ICT infrastructure. Therefore, the responsible parties shall explore more on
other innovative initiative to achieve the targeted budget such as private sector
funding, corporate and community involvement and sponsorships from the
stakeholders.

4.4 Continuous Monitoring and Coaching Requirement

The establishment of Smart School is not a short-term programme instead it is a long-

term programmed that require a continuous process to acculturate the use of

technology in education to ensure quality learning and teaching, effectiveness of
school administration and management, plus the teachers ICT competency.
Therefore, government had carried out a few phases accordingly in Smart School
establishment planning as to monitoring the progress of the pilot project starting from
the initial phase before proceeded to the next phases. Besides, continuous coaching
training is necessary to the teachers and IT coordinators as to increase their
knowledge and skills in ICT as they will play a crucial role in leading, guiding and
motivating students to engage in self-directed, innovative and creative learning
method to help student meets the challenge of the Information Age and also to help
them achieve their full potential in a suitable way by using computer technology.

4.5 Alignment of Smart School Objectives in Ministries and Between Its

Agencies

Since the Smart School initiative was launched in July 1997 as one of the flagships of
the Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC) project, there have been many challenges
encountered in integrating ICT in national education system including to align the
Smart School project within Ministries and between its agencies. Therefore, entering
the last wave of the Smart School Flagship Application Roadmap- Wave 4 which is
the Consolidate and Stabilize phase, Malaysia is gradually moving away from the
Smart School initiative to a larger and more pervasive ICT in Education concept.

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 The ICT in Education concept is a broader notion and it operates in a grander
scheme. The broader concept includes amalgamating multi-lateral efforts from all
stakeholders, from the Ministry of Education (MOE) level to the school and
educational institution level. Thus, government establish a Policy of ICT in Education
as to align all the current and future ICT initiatives under a common goal for
integrating ICT in Education. The Ministry of Education (MOE) Malaysia believes
that the use of ICT in teaching and learning as well as in schools and educational
institutions administration and management areas is a prerequisite for Malaysia to be
a high-income nation. Therefore this Policy is formulated as a guideline to implement
ICT in an education and to ensure uniformity and equal opportunity for all.

4.6 Under-utilized of Smart School Software, Courseware and Hardware

Smart School project involve the reinvention of the teaching and learning component
materials. A few examples of the smart school ICT utility is the installation of
software, courseware and hardware in the computer system. However, the fact is that
not all students and teachers know well to handle the computer and its devices.
Especially the teachers that hold the seniority in teaching of that school and had used
to the conventional teaching methods. Hence, the misconception of the usage of the
computer as wasting causes failure in utilizing the utility provided. As the result
government had to invest a lot amount of money to gives training to the teachers that
blind in ICT.

In addition, several teachers who lack or do not use computers to aid teaching
and learning they found the main problem they face is a constraint to finish the
syllabus because according to their use of the Internet requires a long time to navigate
and accessible even in terms of their attitude ready to use the computer in teaching.
While Wiburg (1997), says that to build, develop and integrate multimedia resources
quite difficult even have the will to use technology in teaching, with technical skills
but limited time and resources will continue to be major obstacles in a digital world.

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4.7 ICT and Digital Divide

Imbalances in society and especially in economic terms, income, education,

infrastructure, modernization and etc. will affect the progress of ICT and digital.
School, education and the teaching profession in the country should play a
constructive role to address the digital divide and ICT that happens, especially in rural
areas and among ethnic groups. Schools and the teaching profession should give
serious attention to bridge the gap of digital ICT and ICT education program to
expand opportunities and master the knowledge and digital skills, particularly among
poor and rural students. More funding and trained teachers in the field of ICT and
digital should be provided to assist students and school mission and vision to build a
community of IT and digital society.

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5.0 Conclusion

The Smart School initiative enable in revolution of learning in ways that are beyond
our grasp today. The Pilot and the Post-Pilot in the pilot project phases have helped in
identifying weaknesses systematically and corrective steps have been identified to rectify
these and enhance the strengths. Ensuring the successful implementation of the nationwide
expansion of the Smart School will require certain moves and strategies.

Next, the Smart School assessment system is involving a significant departure from
traditional assessment system. The characteristics of the Smart School assessment
are holistic, element- based, criteria-referenced, conducted in various forms, using
multiple approaches and instruments. Therefore, the benefits of all this is to help realize the
National Philosophy of Education and assure the quality.

Last but not least, the Smart School project which is being introduced in our country
actually is one of the platforms to achieve our nation Vision 2020. Even though the
challenges and obstacles does exist, these problems can be solves easily if everyone work
together to think about the solution consistent with the high technologies nowadays to
overcome the challenges in a systematically ways.

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Reference

Thehttps://www.scribd.com/document/20617161/The-Malaysia-Smart-School

http://www.mscmalaysia.my/sites/default/files/pdf/publications_references/Smart_School_Blu
eprint.pdf

https://www.scribd.com/document/332615362/CHALLENGES-OF-SMART-SCHOOL-IN-
MALAYSIA

http://www.mscmalaysia.my/sites/default/files/pdf/publications_references/Smart_School_Blu
eprint.pdf

https://www.scribd.com/document/331894887/The-Challenges-for-Smart-School-in-Malaysia

http://www.mscmalaysia.my/sites/default/files/pdf/publications_references/SMART_SCHOO
L_ROADMAP_020506.pdf

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